French press review 17 January 2017

US politics is making the headlines this morning with most focusing on Donald Trump who will be sworn in as America's 45th president later this week.

Le Monde, before looking at the future presidency though, chose to look back on Barack Obama’s achievements these past 8 years, with a 5-part series called “The Obama years.” Today, it tackles the economy, that it deems “unachieved and unequal.”

On the one hand, you have Trump saying that before him “It was a dark world that lay ahead” while on the other hand, Obama, in his goodbye speech, claimed the economy has been on a good path since his first term.

In reality, Le Monde says, there indeed was a boost in the economy, but the job is far from done.

So, the paper concludes, whether some Americans will remember Obama as the man who got the country out of the financial crisis, some will think it was not the case. But will Trump be able to do a better job?

Le Figaro dedicates a lot of coverage to Trump. It headlines “Donald Trump is provoking Europeans” - with five days to go before he takes over, he declared that Brexit was a good thing - he is apparently anxious to draft a trade deal with London, and he says other EU members should do the same. 

He claimed that NATO was obsolete, lacking funds and it was unable to prevent the several attacks that struck the continent.

And, last but not least, he criticised German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He says that she made a tremendous mistake when she let the migrants in, and that in the end, the EU itself is solely an instrument of Germany’s greater plans.

But to be honest, what it looks like, Le Figaro’s editorial points out, is that Trump only cares for two other big players: Russia, which he really wants as an ally. And China, to beat it to ground.

It concludes by saying that describing Trump as a “menace” is only the reflection of our own helplessness.

This echoes La Croix’s editorial this morning, which descirbes Trump as “an electrochoc” for Europe.

The article says - and maybe that is only wishful thinking - that maybe one day the President-elect will know how to use diplomatic language, but for now, he simply has "no filter."

La Croix says that with everything he just said against Europe, at least, Britain should be happy about this since it’s been flying solo against the EU, in what shapes out to become a bad divorce.

The paper concludes by saying that this outspokenness will force European leaders to pick a side and try and stick to it, especially when they have to face superpowers like Russia and China.

And Libération continues its series on the French Socialist primaries candidates, with Manuel Valls on the frontpage this morning, with the headline “I stand by my pragmatic side."

He says in Libé’s pages that, in this difficult world, he stands by his convictions and decision making, despite critics.

He says that the 2017 world is different from the 2012 - that is why the Left has to “re-invent” itself, especially if it wants to stand in the second round of the upcoming presidential election.

He talks about the basic income defended by rival Benoit Hamon, but also about his views concerning the European Union, the migrant crisis, relations with Russia, Israel and Palestine, Trump, the environment.

The former Prime minister answers it all, and more. One thing is crystal clear - he is not changing a thing in his programme.

And if, as he says, he is in it to win it, Libération says that there is still a long way to go. 

Valls also makes Le Monde’s frontpage, with the headline “Valls at the heart of the debate.”

The thing is, since Francois Hollande is not there to take responsibility for the failures of the past five years, someone has to take the blow. And who better than the former Prime Minister?

That stands next to another headline, “Macron’s dynamic disturbs the other presidential candidates” and that is Valls included, but also the far right Marine Le Pen and Les Republicains’ Francois Fillon.

At any rate, the months to come should prove quite interesting.